Monday was just not a good day for the Cubs organization as the Reds beat the Cubs 7-4 in Cincinnati. The night started off so well – Carlos Zambrano and the Cubs had a 4-0 lead heading into the bottom of the 6th inning and Big Z had only given up 1 hit to that point. But then the wheels came off. After striking out lead-off hitter Miguel Cairo, Big Z could not get another player out the rest of the inning, surrendering 4 singles, a walk and a double before being lifted for Marcos Mateo. By that point the game was still tied at 4 and the Reds had 2nd and 3rd with only 1 out. A Mateo wild pitch and then a 2-run home run to Johnny Gomes propeled the Reds to the 7-4 win. What a joke…

The only positives on an all-around bad day – Darwin Barney had 3 hits and is now hitting .345. Carlos Pena hit his 4th home run of the season – a 2-run shot that gave the Cubs a 4-0 lead.

The Cubs also announced that Tyler Colvin was being sent down to the Triple-A Iowa to “re-find” his swing with some regular at-bats.

Andrew Cashner also took a setback in his rehab from shoulder stiffness when he experienced a twinge in a Mesa, Arizona workout.

Oh yeah, the Cubs sent Mateo down to Triple-A Iowa after another bad outing.

And oh yeah – Manager Mike Quade held a closed-door meeting to talk to his players about accountability after yet another loss. Yippee – think he’s ready to be done managing this squad?

The Cubs have now fallen a season high 5 games under .500. Ouch. They are 17-22 and they trail the 1st place Reds by 6 games…